African and African American Studies

Curriculum

African and African American Studies (AAAS) offers opportunities for critical examination and sophisticated understanding of the cultural, social, political, economic, and historical factors that have created and shaped Africa and its diaspora, including black experiences in the United States, the Caribbean, and throughout the globe. The minor consists of six three-credit courses, some of which may require prior approval, and a portfolio submission of representative work in the minor. Requirements for the minor are as follows:

senior seminar, capstone, or internship course in the student’s major that significantly engages AAAS topics (requires program director advance approval).

Portfolio of representative work in the minor, submitted to program director in the final year

Credits toward the minor must come from at least three distinct disciplines; at least four courses must be at the 300-level or above; up to two courses may be cross-counted between the AAAS minor and another major or minor. Some courses are more applicable or available to certain majors than others.

Students should work with the program director, in addition to their major advisors, to work out a coherent program of study. Meeting at least once semester with the director is suggested. Students are required to work with the program director to compile and submit a final portfolio of a representative selection of work from various AAAS classes, ordinarily in the final year of coursework in the minor.

Electives in African Studies

AH202

African Art

HS308

White Man’s Burden: Colonialism and the Historical Origins of Racism

HS373

Africa: Past and Present

HS388

Conquest and Colonization in Africa: 1884-1965

HS389

Women and Social Change in Modern Africa

HS443

Apartheid and Its Demise in South Africa

HS480

Seminar: Cold War in Southern Africa

ML270

Introduction to African Literature

PS302

African Politics

Electives in African American Studies

AH207

African-American Art

CM374

Documentary Production: Baltimore Stories

EN367

Race and Ethnicity in American Literature

EN373

African American Literature

HS106

The Making of the Modern World: Africa

HS358

African-American History through the Civil War

HS359

African Americans and Jazz

HS360

African-American History Since Emancipation

HS366

The Civil Rights Crusade

HS428

The Making of the Early Republic: A Study of Race, Place, and Ideology

The electives listed below may count toward AAAS credit if the final paper or project significantly engages African, African American, or African diaspora studies. The student must seek approval in advance from the program director and it is the student’s responsibility to work with the course instructor to ensure that the final paper or project is on AAAS topics.

Merchants and Farmers, Planters and Slaves: The Roots of American Business, 1600-1850

HS463

Colonial British America

LW409

Special Topics in Law and Social Responsibility (Race and Gender in Employment)

MK346

Buyer Behavior

PY253

Multicultural Issues in Psychology

SC204

The Family

SC221

Sociology of Race, Gender, and Class

SC307

Male and Female Roles

SC361

Social Inequality

SC362

Global Inequality

SN345

Hispanic Caribbean Literature

SN351

Literature and Identity Politics in Peru

SN370

19th-Century Latin American Novel

SP312

Cultural Diversity in Communication

PS351

Third World Politics

Other courses may be approved for credit toward the AAAS minor if they significantly engage AAAS learning aims. Check the course bulletin each semester.

An international, service-learning, or internship course is recommended. Study-abroad courses must be in Africa or in a black-majority location in the diaspora (e.g., Guadeloupe); up to three study-abroad courses can count toward the AAAS minor, in consultation with the Department accepting the credit. Service-learning is integral to courses designated as such, which entails working with African American or African diaspora populations in the greater Baltimore area. Internship courses are offered through a student’s major and it is the student’s responsibility to seek program director approval for AAAS credit. Students may also take up to two courses offered through the Baltimore Student Exchange program at other area colleges and universities; however, these courses must be pre-approved by the program director.